Charlie McCreevy
Ceist:13 Mr. McCreevy asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will ensure that the stalled EU Poverty IV Programme will proceed in full during the course of the forthcoming Irish Presidency of the EU. [11589/96]
Written Answers. - European Poverty Programme.
Ray Burke
Ceist:14 Mr. R. Burke asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he intends to raise under the auspices of the Irish Presidency of the EU, the ongoing veto on the European Poverty Programme which, if implemented, will contribute £11 million to Irish anti-poverty groups. [11113/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together.
I refer the Deputies to the answers I gave to Question No. 128 on Tuesday 11 June and to Question No. 8 on 3 April 1996. The situation in relation to the Poverty 4 Programme remains unchanged since then in that the proposed programme is still effectively blocked at council.
Despite interventions by myself and other members of the Irish Government, two member states remain strongly opposed to the Commission's proposals for a fourth poverty programme. Indeed, apart from raising the matter at Council of Ministers meetings, I have had detailed meetings with Ministers in the countries concerned and will be continuing this process in the context of the Irish Presidency. It is clear however, that these objections are deep seated and that there is very little likelihood that the Commission's proposals will gain acceptance in their current form.
I reject the view that this issue should be seen purely in terms of obtaining additional EU funds for Ireland. To do so is to misunderstand the role and importance of a further EU poverty programme. From Ireland's point of view the issue is not a budgetary one. The real question is what we can do about the gulf between those European citizens who benefit from increased economic growth and those who do not.
A European dimension to tackling poverty and social exclusion is essential if we are to make significant progress in tackling what is a European-wide problem. For this reason, the Deputies may be interested to note that I am undertaking two separate initiatives.
First, as part of the Intergovernmental Conference, the Government will seek a treaty change on social exclusion. The purpose of this is to ensure that the European Union will be better able to combat poverty in the future. While this initiative will not directly affect Poverty 4, it is to be hoped that if we are successful, two things may happen.
The competence of the EU to engage in such programmes will be clarified and, second, it will permit more significant European poverty initiatives in the future.
There is no guarantee of course that we will be successful, nor should Deputies expect this objective to be delivered overnight. I have no doubt it will be a very long and difficult process of negotiation.
But tackling poverty and social exclusion is something that I believe is so important for all the peoples of Europe that we must try everything in our power to make sure that it remains high on the European agenda.
The second initiative I am undertaking is to endeavour to ensure that social exclusion remains a high priority issue all through Ireland's Presidency. At the first informal Council of Social Affairs Ministers' meeting in July we will be discusssing the general issue of social protection and long-term unemployment but with particular reference to making our social protection systems more effective in helping the most disadvantaged members of society and their search for employment.
I will seek to further the debate regarding social exclusion through discussion wherever possible, including, for example, at such conferences as the "New Directions in Social Welfare" conference in Dublin in November. At the Social Affairs Council in December I hope, in the context of the discussion on the Commission's Communication on "the Future of Social Protection" to lead a discussion among my fellow Ministers on what we should be doing to address this most important issue.
In this context, I would also hope to share with our European partners my experience of the development of our own national initiative currently under way to combat social exclusion, the National Anti-Poverty Strategy, a process which I know a number of other European countries are watching with great interest.